Southwest Airlines Pilots Union Sues Boeing, Alleging Lost Compensation
October 07 2019 - 7:11PM
Dow Jones News
By Alison Sider
The union representing pilots at Southwest Airlines Co. sued
Boeing Co., alleging that the plane maker rushed its 737 MAX jet to
market and misrepresented the plane as safe.
The MAX has been grounded since March in the wake of two plane
crashes within a five-month period that killed 346 people. The
nearly 10,000 Southwest pilots represented by the union say that
they are losing millions of dollars a month as the grounding
stretches on.
The pilots said in their suit, filed Monday in a Dallas County,
Texas, court that they agreed to fly the MAX based on Boeing's
assertions that the jet was essentially the same as the previous
model of the 737, which Southwest pilots know well.
"We have to be able to trust Boeing to truthfully disclose the
information we need to safely operate our aircraft. In the case of
the 737 MAX, that absolutely did not happen," John Weaks, president
of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, or Swapa, said in a
statement about the lawsuit.
Boeing said it respects Southwest's pilots and will continue to
work with them to return the MAX to service, but will defend itself
against the suit.
"While we value our long relationship with SWAPA, we believe
this lawsuit is meritless and will vigorously defend against it," a
spokesman said. Previously, Boeing has said the MAX was certified
according to accepted industry standards and FAA requirements.
Southwest had 34 MAX jets in its fleet at the time of the
grounding and was supposed to have around twice as many by the end
of the year. Without those planes, the airline has had to cancel
some 30,000 flights, the pilots union said.
Boeing has said it expects the MAX to be approved by regulators
to fly again before the end of the year. But Southwest has said it
could take another month or longer to get its planes ready to fly
and to train pilots. The airline hasn't scheduled any MAX flights
until early January.
Southwest pilots have claimed that this has meant fewer
opportunities to fly and earn money, costing them more than $100
million collectively.
The crashes and Boeing's subsequent response have strained the
company's relationships with some pilots. Pilots at airlines
including Southwest and American Airlines Group Inc. have sharply
criticized Boeing for not initially providing enough information
about the new flight-control system that has been implicated in
both crashes.
The Southwest pilots said they were left in the dark about this
system, known as MCAS, despite having had detailed discussions with
Boeing about the MAX while it was being developed and participating
in training flights and other exercises before it began commercial
service.
"Boeing's misrepresentations caused SWAPA to believe that the
737 MAX aircraft was safe, and that it was to SWAPA pilots'
economic advantage to agree to fly the 737 MAX aircraft for their
employer, Southwest Airlines," the Southwest pilots said in their
suit, citing media reports and other public statements about the
plane's development.
Boeing has set aside an initial $5.6 billion to compensate
airline customers for grounded and undelivered jets.
Southwest Chief Executive Gary Kelly has previously said that
the carrier is in talks with Boeing on a possible settlement, and
said in a message to employees last month that the airline would
look to share any proceeds of a deal with workers.
The Allied Pilots Association, a separate union representing
pilots at American Airlines, said in a statement Monday that it
believes members deserve compensation from Boeing, but plans to
seek it through American rather than directly from the plane
maker.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 07, 2019 18:56 ET (22:56 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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